Veteran Hong Kong actor Ng Man-tat passed away today (Feb. 27) at the age of 70.

According Lianhe Zaobao, fellow actor and good friend, Tin Kai-man, made the announcement on behalf of Ng's family.

Ng had passed away in a Hong Kong hospital at 5:16pm.

Funeral arrangements

Tin said he will discuss with Ng's family and he will be fully responsible as a representative in preparing and organising the memorial.

He added that Ng had savings and the rest of his family has no financial concerns.

Old comedy partner of Stephen Chow

Ng was Chow's go-to supporting actor for many of the latter's films. The pair were inseparable as on-screen comedy partners in the 90s.

They reportedly had a fallout in 2004 when Chow took Ng's lead actor role in Kungfu Hustle.

Responding to enquiries about whether filmmaker-producer Stephen Chow had seen Ng one last time, Tin disclosed that Chow had only asked about the current condition and "there is not much use to contact him now".

Besides sharing that Chow's older sister had visited Ng on behalf of Chow, Tin said he hopes that people would stop bringing Chow into everything and misplace the focus of the issue at hand.

Heart attack while filming

On Feb. 9, Shin Min Daily reported that Ng experienced a heart attack on set while shooting for promotional posters.

Initially he was still focused on acting the part but his expression was soon that of pain as he bent over and clutched at his chest, slowly collapsing to the side.

Upon discovering that Ng's body was weak and swaying, they immediately assisted him to sit down for a rest.

After he was seated, Ng continued to rub the left side of his chest in an attempt to get rid of the pain while his face had gone pale.

When he felt a little better, he kept apologising to the production crew. "Resting for two minutes, ten minutes, is no use, let's not stop," he said and insisted on resuming the shoot.

After the shoot, Ng still bowed to apologise to the crew, which gained a lot of attention and concern from netizens who hoped he would not continue working while he was unwell.

Six years ago, Ng suffered from heart failure. His condition then was so severe that he had to be sent into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and almost lost his life with death rumours surfacing twice.

As a result, the actor who also had diabetes lost 15kg. When his condition was at its worst, he was only 38kg. He lost so much weight that numerous fans were unable to recognise him.

In order to focus on recuperating, Ng took a break from filming and only returned to work in recent years.

Being mindful of his diet and doing yoga while taking medication to control his condition, he gradually recovered.

Admission into oncology department

On Feb. 21, Lianhe Zaobao reported that Ng had been admitted into hospital the previous day (Feb. 20) due to a serious illness and was sent to the oncology department with no news about his condition.

In a report published by Shin Min Daily on Feb. 22, Tin broke the news to reassure the public and media that Ng's condition was under control and Ng had made a phone call, saying that he had a close shave.

Earlier today (Feb. 27) Hong Kong's Apple News reported that Ng's condition took a sudden nosedive and had to be rushed into the ICU.

Ng's good friend and former TVB actor Wilson Tsui arrived at the hospital at around 1pm this afternoon and he acknowledged that he was there to see Ng for the last time.

Tin acknowledged that Ng had liver cancer, and had undergone an operation two months ago and was receiving treatment in the hospital.

Top images by Weibo.